Last year's beaten preliminary finalists laid out an early marker on a glorious afternoon in West Belconnen, while new Jets coach Paul Azar was given a hefty dose of just how big a task he was facing in his first season in charge.

Max Monaghan, Sam Glyde and Tom Simpson all kicked multiple goals as the merciless Magpies ran up a double ton in the 35.21 (231) to 1.5 (11) rout.

"We had a pretty good last quarter there, the guys really ran out the game well so that was good," Bennett said.

"The guys were fit enough today and we need to keep getting better over the next few weeks but it was a good start.

"Over this first five games we play everyone once, we get to see what people are like. I'm really interested to see how we go over the next three weeks and we'll know more then.

"There's been a lot of change [in the competition], and a lot of unknowns and really at this time of year, everyone probably thinks they can win it."

Underpinning Belconnen's first-round massacre was a host of local juniors representing the club.

"That's what the Belconnen Footy Club has been built on over the years is just local juniors coming through and having a really strong senior side," Bennett said.

"We've got a strong 18s this year, we've got some really talented kids there and keen to expose them to senior footy throughout the year.

"The most pleasing thing is we're getting younger all the time and that's a really good thing for the club. Something that we're focusing on is just transitioning our team from the guys who have played and been a big part of the team over the last few years and then bringing those next crop of young guys through.

"Those guys really stepped up and they're the future of our club so we need to keep giving them opportunities like today."

The Magpies take on Eastlake next weekend, following the Demons' comfortable 38-point win over Ainslie on Saturday, while Azar's Jets run into a Tuggeranong side stinging from a thrashing at the hands of premiers Queanbeyan.

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"We've just got to focus on what we want to bring to the game, and we can only get better building off the process that we want and the game style that we want," Azar said.

"If we get lost with the scoreboard we won't really get any benefit out of that.

"It's tough and obviously Belconnen played really well and all credit to them. The benefit for us is we get to create our own little journey here and do it our way, and we need to understand that and really own that moving forward.

"Success comes down to two things - it's about building your stock and building your capabilities, so we've really got to look after our players and help them develop, [and] secondly to that is building that brand of football."

AFL Canberra round one: Belconnen Magpies 35.21 (231) def Gungahlin Jets 1.5 (11); Queanbeyan Tigers 24.19 (163) def Tuggeranong Valley 4.4 (28); Eastlake Demons 8.18 (66) def Ainslie Tricolours 3.10 (28)